


Chess With An Ostrich & Other Thraham Prompts

by Zarius



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Awkward, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Dating, F/M, Heart-to-Heart, Lunar New Year exchange, Pandemic - Freeform, Post-Episode: s02e04 The Girl in the Fireplace, Post-Episode: s12e05 Fugitive of the Judoon, Prompt Fic, Romance, Social Issues, Suicide Attempt, social distancing, thraham - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-08-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:29:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 13,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zarius/pseuds/Zarius
Summary: The fam celebrate lunar new year, Ryan prompts Graham to tell the Doctor about his feelings, The Doctor confesses she has peculiar taste (prompt fic)
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & Graham O'Brien, Thirteenth Doctor & Yasmin Khan, Thirteenth Doctor/Graham O'Brien, Yasmin Khan/Ryan Sinclair
Comments: 49
Kudos: 28





	1. Chess With An Ostrich

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vgault](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vgault/gifts).



> Hi Vgault, thanks for taking a shine to my Doc/Graham fanfics, it's very much appreciated. As requested, here is your prompt made reality, enjoy (and I wish the same to anyone else reading this too)

In the TARDIS, the fam was busy putting together streamer rockets to celebrate China's Lunar New Year.

All around them, tiny drones danced and darted across the room, emitting holographic monitors that projected the friends' faces across the whole of China.

"Right, remember guys, this is a big moral boost we're giving the people of china for taking interest in concepts to do with time travel. It's a big leap to defy their superstitions like that; whole laws were put in place to defy any entries into the field"

"Doc, I thought you said promised no more soapbox lectures" Graham said.

"Yeah, most of our adventures are history lessons in themselves, we'd rather we experience it firsthand" Ryan added.

Yasmin had gone first and the streamer was set off without a hitch, she giggled and excused herself as she needed a bathroom break rather desperately.

Graham went next, wishing the Chinese people well and pulling his streamer.

Ryan soon followed, and again the streamer went off without a hitch.

Then came the turn of The Doctor, who was having a lot of difficulty setting off her own rocket.

As she struggled, Graham looked on, and noticed Ryan was staring at him oddly as he did so. He chose to take a seat, urging Ryan to join him.

"C'mon, sit with your granddad, I need the company" he said.

Ryan leaned beside Graham, they both observed The Doctor as she struggled to set off the streamer.

"Do you think we should help her?"

"Nah, she just needs to put a bit of effort into it, don't you Doc?" Graham yelled, but The Doctor didn't reply.

"She's listening" Graham assured Ryan.

"I think I need you to listen right now" Ryan said, his tone all of a sudden more strict.

"I'll all ears son" Graham said.

"Graham, you've got that look"

"What look?"

"You know the one; you act like I can't see it, but its there. I told you before if you ever had that look for someone again I'd come down hard on you"

"What look is this?"

"The look you used to give Nan every time you told her you loved her; you've got that look about you now"

"Around who?"

Ryan's eyes told the story; he glanced to the front of the ship, prompting Graham to gaze at the alien female before them

"Aw, no, no Ryan doesn't do this" Graham began, wiping his brow with his right hand.

"I have to Graham, I have to, and I need to make sense of this" Ryan said.

"Ryan, I loved your Nan, she was the best of both our worlds, and she made me better even when my body wouldn't heal. The best days of my life were spent with her"

"Every day is that now, with me, with Yasmin, with her"

"So the look's for all of you then"

"It's always when she's about Graham. You've got the look for her"

"For the Doc? Crikey Ryan you have had a few benders"

"It's true though isn't it? The way you've carried on around her lately"

"In what way?"

"Making that remark about your Speedos, who else could that have been for? Certainly not Yasmin"

"Doc knew I was joking"

"I saw that look she gave you, she didn't know whether to be aroused or just plain disgusted"

"Yeah, well, trust me, it's the latte"

"Then you told Thomas Edison off, you made it clear that the TARDIS was hers and wasn't for sale. You came to her defence pretty quickly there"

"OK, OK, so there have been a couple of times where I've went to bat for her, but let's not presume anything. She's a woman now, but she was a man before right? I don't swing that way son"

"A friend of mine at work, Nathan, has a girlfriend, she started off as a man, they knew each other as blokes initially, after she let him know she was getting the op and needed the support, they just got closer emotionally, it wasn't about whether Nathan was gay or not, he just found his connection took on a deeper meaning"

"Maybe...aw Ryan I don't know what to think now. I'm sorry, truly I am, life carries on though son, I told your Nan, right after she flew up to the heavens that I wanted even more out of life than just the precious few years we spent together. She'd want me to have more, including the opportunity to love again, not just to live again. Had I known it would affect the way you think, I would have confided in you more. For that I can't apologise enough"

"You should ask y'know" Ryan said

"What?" Graham spoke, confused.

"Ask her, if she feels the same way about you" Ryan insisted.

"Oh I can't put her on the spot like that son" Graham said, opting to decline.

"Nan put you on the spot when she asked how you felt about her, she took a risk, and if what you claim is true, she'd want you to take a risk now. I want you to take a risk. You want your love life renewed, then grab hold of it with both hands and don't let go the way I let go of a bike. Nothing is easy to ride"

Graham glanced over to the Doctor as she finally managed to set off the streamer rocket

"Happy lunar new year" she said to the people of China, before signing off.

Graham got up, dusted himself off, put his hand in his pockets, and walked over to her, a hopeful Ryan looking on.

"Doc?"

"Oh hey, I managed to set it off, and this time it was only a party accessory, not a war..." she joked.

"Yeah, um, Doc, you, erm, do you...well, right how do I go about this? You've been around the odd galaxy, has there ever been a time you want more than companionship? Do you fancy..."

"...A kip? Splendid idea, mind if I lie down for a couple of hours?"

"Sure"

"Thanks" Doc said, heading up the stairs to her bedroom, waving to Ryan as she went.

"Later Ryan"

Graham put his hands in his pockets, and let himself pace aimlessly around the console, looking like a lost puppy.

"Well by our usual standards that went well"

"She read you like a book Graham, and you gave her an excuse to leave"

Graham took both hands out of his pocket and let them wash all over his face.

"Yeah, I kind of did. Golly Ryan this is a tough cookie to crack aint' it?"

"You need to try again. Go on up there and ask her"

Unbeknown to both, The Doctor had been listening in; she bit her lip apprehensively, before steeling herself and descending down the staircase.

"Almost forgot, I left my screwdriver on the workshop bench, won't be two ticks"

"Erm, Doc? I was asking you a question and you sort of tailed it before I finished"

"River always said I tailed it before I finished. Took me ages to get what she was referring to"

"River? Who's he?"

"Oh a she"

"Right, so...women still your area then"

"Graham O'Brien, are you jealous?"

"Oh not at all Doc, I'm glad you've got someone"

"I had someone"

"Oh, she's not around then?"

"Well, suppose you had a friend who travelled with you a bit, shared the odd joke here, you had the odd picnic, then it stops all of a sudden. That's the thing about life, and death, it's all so sudden. One minute it's there, the next it's gone"

"Like Grace then? I'm sorry"

The Doctor looked at him, her eyes conveying a loss he didn't fully comprehend, and she doubted anyone could.

"Don't be, those we're among now give us reason to keep going, so we can honour those we lost by continuing to live the life they valued so much"

This affirmation was all Graham needed to spur him on

"That reminds me, I never properly thanked you for being there for me, for all of us, when Grace...when...when she left us, and I kind of want to repay you. Starting now. A _proper_ thank you. I was wondering if you'd care to...go out?"

"Go out?"

"With me, just for some fish and chips, just that, nothing else...and that way I can get to ask you more questions that I hope you'd be happy to answer. About...me, and, well, how you feel, regarding m... oh I'm useless at this aren't I? Just say yes and we'll go out and have a laugh"

"Graham O'Brien, that was the best worst attempt at a pick up chat I've ever heard, used to be like this all the time with the wife"

"Am I going to hear about her all day?"

"If it gives you insight, sure, why not? Romance to me is like playing chess with an ostrich; a mind like mine doesn't react to it in quite the same way. I find it weird and peculiar. I find women peculiar like that"

"So how did your marriage work?" Graham asked.

"It was a very peculiar marriage" The Doctor replied

"And that was just with women right...how do you feel about blokes? About, well, me? Am I...peculiar?"

"You? You're the strongest person I know, you know that" The Doctor responded, almost surprised Graham would even ask her to remind him of what happened at Ranscor Av Kolos. Surely he hadn't forgotten?

"Really? All of time and space, you've met the most extraordinary people, and you think I stand out amongst all of them?"

"You exhibit the finest qualities I look for in someone Graham, the quality of mercy. There have been lives where I've denied people second chances. In spite of what he did to Grace, you chose to spare Tim Shaw. You showed me that with mercy, warriors can be wiser, they can be brave enough to rise above the demands and costs of war"

"Without you Doc, I would have just thought of it as weakness. I guess that's what makes me a peculiar specimen to you. I hope"

"Hope's a good thing to carry around too" The Doctor added.

"Your wife sounds like she made you smile, and that's what I need from you Doc. All smiles" Graham said, his face blushing bright red as awkward anxiety took hold.

The Doctor, almost on command, gave Graham a big grin. She wrapped her right arm tightly around Graham's shoulder and power walked towards the TARDIS doors.

"Come on then my most peculiar fellow, somewhere there's risk, somewhere there's fish, somewhere there's chips, somewhere the tea's getting cold" she said

As she led Graham out of the TARDIS, he turned to Ryan and gave him thumbs up, to silently convey his gratitude in helping to arrange this date.

"Checkmate" Ryan said to himself, smiling.


	2. Hold Your Caviar

Later that evening, Ryan waited for Graham to come by their house; he had put some tea on.

He suddenly heard the door open, and Graham stepped inside, humming a little light hearted diddy to himself, he looked cheerful.

“Well, how’d it go Graham?” Ryan asked, pouring a cup of hot tea into a cup and handing to Graham.

“It was alright son, light supper, light conversation” Graham described to him

“She tell you anything different about herself?”

“Just that her wife never could hold her caviar. She went on and on about how rich the food was with them on their dates”

“Did you get jealous?”

“I don’t get jealous at my age son, what I get sometimes is worried”

“What about?” Ryan asked.

Graham settled himself down on his chair.

“She was distracted, I mean, proper distracted, y’know? This whole business with the Judoon and this Ruth character...it’s really rattled her, she could barely focus on getting to know me, she just rambled on about the best days of her lives, the lives she could remember anyway, but she overcompensated”

“Sounds like you didn’t have such a good time”

“Oh an A for effort there lad, make no mistake, my shoulder just wasn’t prepared to be leant on all evening. She said she’d make up for it on the next date”

“Next date?” Ryan said, slightly startled.

“Yeah, we’re trying again, that alright?”

“I just...I don’t know Graham, part of me is hoping you can be the one to lead us all to her home, that she’ll learn to trust in you and show all of us what she hides whenever she returns from there, on the other hand...what if it becomes more between you? I’m talking proper commitment”

“Don’t go there just yet son, it’s early days”

“What kind of family would I be brought into, y’know? What would that make the Doctor to me? A grandmother that looks like she could be a mum or an aunt, and what if she changes back to a man? Do I still call her Nan? Or do I have two granddads? It’s just something I have to wrestle with...then there’s Ruth”

“What about her?” Graham asked.

“That Ruth person...the one she claims was her in the past, she looked an awful lot like Nan don’t you think?”

Graham felt as if his mind had just gone south for the winter.

“Crikey, I hadn’t considered that”

“Maybe that’s why you’ve got something for the Doctor, maybe the universe has a way of giving you tiny clues as to what the people in your life mean to you, a way of reminding you that something lost can be gained again”

“I knew this was a bad idea, just did”

“Yeah, but look at the company Ruth kept, that Lee fellow, he was willing to put himself on the line for her, just like we all would, and they were happy, they looked pretty together. I’m just saying, maybe if you’re a faithful enough companion, she could be what Nan was to you, if she’s willing to take another crack at it”

“You’re a brave lad Ryan, you’re right, we still don’t know too much about her, but if we carry on, I don’t want what she and I have to just be some fact-finding mission, or a chance to relive what I had with Grace. I want it to be something altogether new, for both our sakes. Let’s not dwell on what we know, or what we think we know, and instead just piece together a better tomorrow for all of us” 

“Sounds nice” said Ryan.


	3. Baby Speak

“So Ryan, I heard one of your mates is an uncle?” Yaz asked excitedly as she and Ryan walked through the Sheffield estate park en route to the TARDIS

“Yeah, Kevin Slater, his son’s proper special. They asked me to name him, but I’m no good with names”

“So what did you do?” asked Yaz, her curiosity peaked.

“I asked The Doctor for suggestions” Ryan replied.

Yaz gave him a concerned look.

“Are you sure that was wise?” she asked

“What’s the matter? It’s The Doctor, she’s been half-way around the universe, and she’ll have met people with the weirdest, wildest names”

“Yeah, and if you don’t want the kid teased mercilessly when he grows up, you stick with the kind of names you find on Earth” Yaz cautioned.

“Why does everyone have to be so ordinary?” said Ryan.

“Bryson?” yelled out a familiar voice which Yaz and Ryan homed in on.

They arrived to find The Doctor and Graham locked in a heated argument. 

“Why couldn’t you call him something like Brad, this is mad Doc”

“Hey, it’s a perfectly Earthly name, it’s just as well I didn’t call him K-Pax” a flustered Doctor said in her defence. 

“Oh I would have lumped you if you’d called him that” Graham replied, shaking his fist.

“Oh really? You’d put your hands on a woman?” The Doctor said.

“Well you were a man once weren’t you?” Graham said, his face red with frustration.

“I’m more man than half the population of this planetary den of primates” The Doctor said, prodding Graham in the chest.

“Yeah? Well perhaps next time you can be man enough to come to the aid of one when we need it, instead of checking out the view left by killer birds like when we dealt with Praxeus”

The Doctor, acting on disciplinary instinct, motioned to give Graham a firm slap, but he swiftly intercepted her hand as it prepared to strike, their eyes stabbed into one another, then he brought her closer.

“Get your paws off me” said The Doctor.

“I’ll have you know there’s only one other person has made me go ape like this, would you like to know how we got on?” he said.

The Doctor grabbed both of his cheeks and pressed her lips onto his.

Ryan felt a cough coming along, he couldn’t help himself, he let loose, alerting the two arguing in front of him and Yaz to disengage from their activity to greet him.

“So how’d your date go?” asked Ryan.

“Swimmingly, until she told me about the baby names” said Graham

“I thought you’d have gone for something out of this world Doctor” said Ryan.

“Trust me Ryan, naming the baby the way I did that LED to an out of this world experience” said The Doctor, giving Graham a pat on the back.

“Feeling better?” asked Graham.

“Loads, thanks”

“Not going to suggest a better label for the little one are you?” Graham asked.

“Nope, I like me a bit of high-brow” The Doctor insisted.

“Right, well, can’t always get what you want on a date I suppose” 

“I always get what I want Graham, in thirty-eight years time they’ll be a special device assembled by NASA, larger in scale to hypothetical Dyson constructs, to trap particles of fallen star clusters circulating black holes, harnessing their energies and transmitting findings back to Earth. They’ll label it the Bryson sphere, named after Bryson Marcus Slater”

“This whole process was so you could stick a label on the future?” Graham asked.

“Yeah, and the chicken was nice too, thanks for paying for it, empty pockets, shall we go for a third round?" The Doctor asked. 

A dumbstruck Graham shrugged and nodded.

"Splendid" The Doctor said, clicking her heels together and whistling a fine little diddy to herself as she headed back to the TARDIS.

"Way to go Kevin" Ryan said to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go Vgault, The Doctor and Graham have an argument while Yaz and Ryan watch. Hope you're feeling better ahead of valentines day.


	4. So Much Less To Fear

Ryan couldn't stay silent, he had overheard everything even as Yaz’s company had distracted him.

After Yaz and Graham took a break from operating the console, he chose this opportunity to speak

“So...Frankenstein” he said

“Yeah, specifically Mary Shelly, we’re going to drop in on them on the very night that inspired her to write all about the modern Prometheus” said The Doctor excitedly.

“And that’s it then? You’re just hoping this lifts Graham’s spirits?”

“Hey, it’s a ghost story that got her gears working, spirits are this journey’s whole centre”

Ryan wasn’t about to let this stand.

“I overheard you...y’know, your response to his worries”

The Doctor began humming some kind of lullaby to herself, trying to drown out this conversation, trying to ignore Ryan.

“He opened his heart out to you and you dismissed him, that’s a bit out of character. Doctor, especially since he likes you”

“No, he doesn’t _just_ like me Ryan, and that's where the whole social awkwardness comes from”

“Well do you like him?”

“Of course I like him” 

“ Yeah, that kiss on your date after a blister of an argument gave him a real good indicator”

“That was purely heat of the moment, it’s how River and I always ended a.... _debate_ during our shake-down years”

“Well he’s not your wife, he’s a man trying to get over the loss of his, you made far too quick a move Doctor, I think you knew what a mistake that was, and now all you know is how to run from it"

“All I ever do is run Ryan” The Doctor said, her voice raw with emotion, maintaining minimal discipline in concealing it.

“I do my utmost to own up to my mistakes, to correct them, to do what was right. I said it would take me about a minute to think of something that would be helpful to Graham, and I did, I suggested a trip, something to give him the right amount of adrenaline, a real kick, give him an experience. All of life is experience Ryan, sometimes it’s better to show someone grasping with mortality that there’s so much less to fear and so much more to live for”

Ryan didn’t know what else to say, he had been properly put in his place.

“I guess I owe you an apology then” he said.

“Nevermind, we’ll be landing soon, why don’t you have a sit and I’ll make us all some scrambled eggs?”

Ryan licked his lips.


	5. Those Who Vanished Yesterday

Yaz stepped out of the Taxi as delicately as she could, the baby bump doing its utmost to keep her pressed down on the seat, Ryan hoisting her out holding both her hands. She tipped the driver his money and the cab hastily sped off.

Yaz and Ryan made their way towards Graham's house and looked at one another. There was love present between the two, but also a lingering sense of uncertainty.

They had faced many hardships together in the years that led them through their gradual courtship, but now as the reality of their new life loomed, nested in a physical cocoon ready to break free any day now, the question of how to best go forward compelled them to process their options.

This was not a safe world. Not any longer.

They knocked on the door, and Graham answered, a toothbrush lodged in his mouth.

"What are you doing Granddad?" asked Ryan.

"I'm taking my temperature" said Graham

"With a toothbrush?" asked a bemused Yaz.

"Yeah, it was the Doc's idea"

"We'd like to see The Doctor if you don't mind" said Yaz.

"She doesn't want visitors. She thinks something's after her. It's got her proper spooked"

"So why did you open the door then?" Ryan asked.

"Because I don't agree with her"

Yaz called out for The Doctor.

"Doctor? It's us, if you don't want us in, I can understand, social distancing and all that, but we've been through the worst of it you know...the toll's gone down since Easter, that's what they've said"

The silence from the interior of the house was deafening, and gave Yaz a shudder as the disquiet only worsened her existing apprehensions.

"Doctor...we wanted to talk to you just a bit, it's our baby, will it be safe? Do you know something you're not telling us?"

Graham walked into the house, handing Yaz the moist toothbrush. He climbed up the stairs and into his bedroom, where he spotted The Doctor, hung over the edge of the bed, her boots off, clutching a stuffed teddy bear. A photograph of a strangely alluring and quizzical young lady with a short haircut distinct to the 1960s. The photograph looked like it had been taken in a junkyard, and it was in black and white.

The Doctor grabbed the photo and tenderly stroked the features of the girl with the tips of her fingers, she bit her lip anxiously.

She spoke to the photograph, even though she was aware of her living audience of one beside her, as Graham sat himself down to comfort The Doctor.

"They've still got all you're going through yet to come, how do I prepare them for that? For all I know, this is what sets it off now, what weakens humanity, what readies them for the days where they lose everything, the days I left in your care" she said.

"Who are you talking to the Doc?" asked Graham.

"The past I left in your future" The Doctor spoke, wanting to apologize for the riddle but was sure Graham wouldn't mind a bit of bamboozlement.

"Doctor?" Yaz called again.

"You've got to answer her sometime Doc" Graham said.

The Doctor put the photograph down and curled up in his arms, wrapping her right arm warmly around his head.

"We're living through an uncertain time Graham, one I can't spoil, in case you lot try to rewrite every line. This is one time I'm going to have to heed my wife's warnings...and take my first selves' advice. Oh why do our minds wander so far from how they were in our youth?"

"When we're young we look at it all very unclearly, we're lost in the arrogance of it all, the audacity of it, it's only when we're older that we look at life a bit clearer, or when we're faced with something that makes us take it less for granted. Strangely enough, those of us that see it all too clearly are still on some level afraid we'll be amongst those who vanish"

"I've been a lifetime of older people Graham, and all those lives are among the vanished, footprints in the sand on a warm beach, just like that, we're gone"

"As long as we've got today, we've got each other, we're family, and it's about to get even bigger once the baby comes calling"

"She wants me to be its godmother, but what kind of God would I be exactly?"

"I don't think you should take it so literally Doc"

"I've played God for so long Graham, and it still doesn't keep anyone together. They vanish, they all vanish, and I linger on. I can speak baby, but what else can I say to them other than try to not get themselves killed by an invisible killer?"

"Tell them there's a visible hand holding theirs, tell them to trust in a healer that will do their best to make them feel better, tell them to be brave, tell them to trust you"

"You know how socially awkward I am"

"I know you can learn Doc, I know from how much you talk about your wife that you learned to love, and, hey, you fancy me a little don't you?"

The Doctor giggled.

"More than a little you big lolly" she said.

Graham kissed The Doctor on the forehead.

"This kid has a whole world of love waiting for him Doc, don't deny him it, don't count him among those who'll vanish tomorrow, remind him how special he is today, and for every tomorrow, because every tomorrow becomes today"

The Doctor grinned, pressing her lips against Grahams', she then quietly pricked his nose with her finger got up, put on her boots, and dashed down the stairs to give Yaz the best possible advice she could.

She would reassure Ryan and Yaz that their baby would be safe as long as they worked hard to keep him so.

Because every day is a struggle, regardless of how sick the earth makes us, the perseverance against the illness, the will to survive, is what makes the human race ultimately win each tomorrow as it comes.

Sometimes she lets that slip her mind as she walks through eternity, sometimes she forgets. It's up to the blessings in her life, the Rivers, the Susan's, the O'Brien's, the fam, to remind her that those still privileged to dare tomorrow should never be made to feel as if they count amongst those who vanished yesterday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go Vgault, your "Yaz and Ryan are expecting a baby" request.


	6. The Engine Kept Going

The little tyke loved puddles, so did The Doctor. They spent ill-advised ages in the park looking for the biggest puddles they could find and leaping into them, drenching the two from head to foot with each sudden impact.

Because she held a brolly, a most quaint little oddity with a question mark handle, The Doctor would hand the child it and dare him to imagine himself as one of the Banks children in Mary Poppins, a film she would frequently show him on days where his mother would spend tireless hours at work.. She would ask him to jump as high as he could and crashing down on the first puddle that happened to be in front of him, pretend he could fly, and then they would take turns, each determined to get the better of gravity, knowing gravity would always win.

After hours of this type of wondrous play, they would skip back hand in hand to Yaz and Ryan's apartment. As usual, they both got a telling off by the child's mother for being careless in cold weather. Both of them laughed it off. It was them against authority, them against their own little world, and they revelled in their mischief.

The Doctor headed back to the TARDIS, taking her hoodie and trench coat off as soon as she got in, but she was still a wet mess.

She knelt down on the floor and frantically tried to slip out of her boots. It was difficult to do so while Litres of waters could be felt lodged inside of it. The floor was flooded as soon as she succeeded in removing the boots.

Now all that was left was to dry herself, she wondered where in the console she had left River's straighteners. She also wondered if they were still pristine condition. The woman did always have the most difficult hair.

The Doctor hen caught a whiff of something, a warmly scented rose like aroma emitting just to the north of her.

She also heard a faint amount of splashing going on.

Peeling off her soggy socks, she walked up the staircase barefoot, she traced the aroma and the splashing to it's source, that temperature slightly rose, to an almost tropical level.

It didn't take long to realise for The Doctor to realise just where the corridor was leading. She was surprised to find she was only now rediscovering the room for the first time in many years, she had never had much of a desire to look specifically for it.

The TARDIS swimming pool.

The room was vast, deck chairs stationed to the side, the remains of old book shelves to the right, and in the midst of the heated sauna-like watery content, a large boulder.

Stationed in the pool, his back leaning against the boulder, his eyes were shut, the pool's lights were switched on, coating him in emerald pink. His legs were kicking back, causing a few rippling waves. His toes stuck up.

The Doctor loudly coughed, keen to get his attention.

Graham's eyes snapped open and he scrambled around, unsure of what to say for himself.

"Doc. I'm sorry, I, erm, just fancied a quick kip, I mean, dip, well, sort of a kip too. Oh I didn't mean to go exploring without you, I know you wanted the pair of us to take a stroll around the thing now we've managed some quality time, I just happened to find this on the first go"

The Doctor folded her arms, she dipped one of her toes into the water to test the temperature.

"Wouldn't want to spoil your fun" she said.

"You look like you had a bit of a soak yourself. The weather that bad outside?" Graham asked.

"For your information, I was showing young Doc Martin Grace Sinclair the engine of the world, what makes his species run, and what can also stop it dead in it's tracks. I told him to jump straight into what it contained, under the pretence you can do anything with a bit of a spark of life in you, you can gamble with anything, because the reward is plentiful" The Doctor replied.

"So you got covered in oil and grease? Hope you bathed him...maybe you did, that's why you look drenched" said Graham, bamboozled by The Doctor's cryptic words but still eager to make light commentary on whatever situation he was imagining.

The Doctor sighed; she knelt down and kicked a bit of the water back in Graham's direction.

"I meant this...water. Most humans are made of a good percentage of it, it sustains you, we need it to live, but the engine can also be your enemy if you mistreat it, you can drown if you're not careful. I was teaching the boy you needn't be afraid, that you can master your oceans however big or small they are, treat the engine with respect and it won't see you as an obstruction, it won't remove respect"

"Without respect, it rejects, how millennial of mother nature" said Graham, scrambling to reach for his towel at the edge of the pool, as he got up, The Doctor observed him, admiring what he had on.

"Nice speedos" she said.

"Oh, yeah, I wasn't kidding when I said I already had 'em on that one time before we nipped off to Earth in the future, should have seen the look on your face back then, wasn't so impressive"

"Oh that was just my social awkwardness. At the worst of times, I can't tell disgust from aroused, besides, I've never seen a man as old as you with them on before"

"Well, are you gonna keep looking?" asked Graham.

The Doctor dipped her middle right toe in the water and caused a small vortex, the conditions were just right for what she wanted to do next.

"How long do you want to keep swimming?" she said.

"Oh I've been in for a bit now Doc, I might start wrinkling if I last any longer" said Graham, dabbing his head with the towel, preparing to wrap it around his waist.

"You're all made of wrinkles anyway" The Doctor remarked.

Graham initially thought it a bit rude of The Doctor to comment on his physical appearance like that, but remembered she was socially difficult and forgave her for this slip up. He was more worried about her current well-being, he noticed her nose was slightly red and she was sniffling a lot.

"Doc, are you going to keep those on all day? You don't look at all comfortable" he noted.

"This? It's nothing, believe me, I've looked far glummer in the midst of rainfall before" The Doctor insisted, but her shivering more than made up Graham's mind.

"Come on, get them off" he insisted, snapping his fingers.

"I can't just slip them off, they'll take ages to dry as it is"

"So, put something else on" Graham insisted.

"I'm not nipping to the wardrobe in the buff, are you a loony bin? The draft alone will kill me before I have a chance to regenerate" said The Doctor.

"I'll dry off, get changed, and come back with something then" said Graham, "Or I could just give you my clothes, they might be a bit big for you, but hey, any port in a storm, and hey, it gives me a shot at what you have stashed in that wardrobe. You've been a man so there's bound to be something that fits me"

"You would seriously lend me your clothes?"

"I'm as serious as Shirley" said Graham.

The Doctor, still a little anxious, motioned to slip out of her breaches and pull down her trousers.

Graham dropped the towel. He considered picking it up but then he remembered he may have to pick his jaw up first as it too had dropped in awe at the time lord's legs as she pulled the trousers off.

"What's the matter? That Stone Temple Pilots tattoo still there from the last incarnation?" she asked.

"No, you just...look amazing" Graham responded.

"Oh get off" The Doctor replied, the situation almost flatteringly comical now.

"I'm not on you" he said.

The Doctor wrapped her hands around her shirt and gently pulled it over her head. To Graham's surprise, or horror, he noticed she wasn't wearing a bra. Perhaps she didn't know what one was for.

"Steady on Doc, I think you might need this more than me" Graham said, covering her top with a towel.

"Ah, a gentleman, usually that's my job, I can get used to this" she said.

The Doctor sat down beside the edge of the pool, dipping her feet in the warm water. She slapped it twice with one of her hands, beckoning Graham to sit down beside her, he did so, also dipping his toes in the pool.

"This is nice" she said.

"Yeah, it is, water runs real smooth along here" said Graham.

"Runs like the body of a perfect ocean. Runs like an engine, the engine of the world" she said.

"Doc, I wasn't kidding, you look incredible" Graham said, clutching her right hand.

The Doctor leaned gently on Graham' broad shoulder, whatever could trouble her could wait another day.

She had her grandson, she had her fam, she had her TARDIS, and she had a man with more depth than any ocean.

There would be a day where it all stopped, but for now it didn't seem to matter.

Today, the engine kept going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little self-prompt I worked on today. Also felt a bit bad that I turned down Vgault's suggestion of a babysitting story for Graham and Doc so I added some Grandma/Grandson bonding at the start to satisfy both of us. Hope you enjoy this buddy.


	7. Leave The Light On

Sometimes there are monsters that follow you everywhere

Even into your bedroom

They're like a coat you forget to take off

Imagine that, sleeping in your coat, and it's all soaked

Soaked in blood

In your blood

And it stains your blood, and the blood stains you

The thoughts of what it might do to you courses through every inch of your body, reminding you that as long as the blood runs through you, so does the fear.

Sometimes it can scare you, especially if you're left in the dark of your bedroom with the door firmly shut.

Sometimes you're reminded your saving Grace isn't there to make it better any longer, your Grace, the first casualty of an exciting adventure with the terrors beyond comprehension.

You miss that person, you miss their smiles, their assurances, their skill, the feeling that so long as they were fearless, you were too.

You want to wear that badge of courage, conceal yourself with that mask of resilience, all to keep her family happy.

All to keep the Doctors happy.

All of them.

There were so many, so you'd come to understand.

An overabundance of angels, who had touched many lives, some in friendship, some with love, always doing right by them.

But the thoughts of their actions weren't enough to drive away the dark that was overtaking you.

And then the door to your room would open, and the latest angel would descend.

She'd shake your body, 'wakey wakey' she said, holding a slice of slightly burnt and buttered toast in her hand.

She offers it to you, you eat it, she asks you if you're having a bad night, and that's ok if you haven't, because she had come to enchant your evening.

And you spend telling her stories of your dreams, and from there your childhood, to what you were like as a young man, and she's hanging on every word.

And at the end, she tucks you back into bed, she thanks you for being the strongest person she knew, and she would give you a kiss so few on this Earth truly deserved..

As you turned and left, she made sure to leave the door open.

And you drift off, knowing you had let everything out, in spite of the creeping dark, in light of the persistent fear. As your outer light shined through the edge of the door, your inner light shone far brighter.

That's what a kiss with The Doctor was like.

Leaving the light on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's your "What Does Graham Think When Kissing The Doctor" prompt Vgualt.


	8. My Speed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The Doctor is called 'Mrs. O'Brien" and is OK with it

The Doctor stood before the camera, Ryan Sinclair watching proudly in the background, but also taking the time to check his watch.

Proud though he may be, he was also pressed for time.

The Doctor imagined all the hungry tykes that would be gathered at their computers awaiting this video message, all thirsty for knowledge.

She dared Ryan to check his watch again, hoping he'd tell her what the precise time was, so she could race against it.

Finally, he pointed to the minute hands frantically, urging her to speed it along.

The Doctor readied herself, steadied herself, and went; fast as she could, and hoped those in attendance at the clinic could keep up with her.

"From one Doctor on behalf of every Doctor, nurse, carer, and frontline worker, please remember these important rules. Stay at home; only go outside for food, health reasons or work, if your work definitely can't be done from home, Stay two meters, six feet away from other people. Wash your hands, anyone can spread the virus. Stay at home; protect the NHS, save lives. You've got this"

The Doctor took a gracious bow as Heather Matthews gave her a round of applause. She switched her camera off and approached her, keeping a six feet distance as instructed.

"That was splendid Mrs. O'Brien, thank you for coming in at such short notice, it's vital all members of the community record these messages for our workers and children so they understand the urgency"

"My pleasure, and it's 'Doctor' by the way"

"Doctor, yes, Graham said you were a Doctor, and your first name?"

"Strictly confidential" The Doctor replied, putting the tip of her finger to her lips and letting out a quiet 'ssssh'.

"Yes, but we can't just keep being formal Mrs. O'Brien, I'd like to get to know you better, we all would, you've made Graham so happy these last few months" urged the head teacher.

"I'm awfully difficult to keep track of" The Doctor cautioned.

"Then how do you find such time for poor Graham? Between you and me, you can level; do you have some long-distance thing going on? Do you still live independently from him? Plenty of modern couples do that"

"Doctor? It's time we headed off" urged Ryan, checking his watch.

"Coming along Sinclair, you take care yourself of Ms. Matthews" she said.

"You too Mrs. O'Brien" said Heather, and watched her leave.

Outside in the cold crisp air, The Doctor twirled around and played a bit of hop scotch all while Ryan marvelled at how truly amazing she was stepping in for his step granddad Graham, who had come down with a minor flu...at the drop of a hat she said yes, and yes made all the difference, it made it all so easy.

He wished life at the moment could be as simple.

"Why'd you let her do that?" he asked.

"Let her do what?" she said

"Assume you were married to granddad" Ryan answered.

"It's a step up from Mrs. Doctor. I'm not good with surnames, but it's a bit dumb to blend your title with your marital status"

"But you're not married to him"

"I'm married to my job aren't I? My jobs are two-fold, exploring the universe, and taking care of my fam, that's you, lot"

"But you've probably had lots of families before us" said Ryan

"Yeah, and I miss them all terribly, but I've got something that takes me back all across the lives they've lived one decade at a time, before they met me, while they met me, after they met me. Granted I haven't done much of that since I died back in my tenth body, well, I say tenth but it was really an eleventh, bit of a vanity polish that one. He knew he was going to die young and cried about it too much"

"You rarely make any sense to me" said Ryan.

"The point is Ryan Sinclair, is I know what it's like to belong to a family, and if they think I'm keeping my fam happy, all that determines to me is that I'm doing my job for as long as the universe lets me. Now, we're heading home and I'm making Graham chilled lentil omelette soup, he'll love it"

"But will you still love him Doctor? Always?"

"Yaz asked me if my social awkwardness would ever intrude on your granddad's happiness, can't guarantee it won't, but the one thing I excel in is effort, and I will make as much of that as I can. Believe me, he'll love that too"

"He better" Ryan said, smiling.

He checked his watch, he gave her a cheeky look, he raised both eyebrows.

"Race you to Graham's place, two second head start"

"That's more my speed right?"

"Wrong" he said, and darted out ahead of her.

"Oi" she said, laughing as she charged after him


	9. The Fragrance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Graham discuss buying a new house

It hadn't always been a thought. Now it was. Just a thought, a faint whisper in the corridors of the stately country manor, a thought that belonged to no one but...him.

He was the thought's friend, someone who drifted along the corridors of the mansion in a haunted state, reflecting on loss, and becoming weighed down by the cost of that loss.

The thought channelled a pleasant idea into the friend's powerful brain, one of hope, it made him stronger, and in time, it made him cherish the thought.

Then, over time, the friend began to resent the thought, so much so that he would conspire to defeat it, he would send it into distress, and he would make it question its own right to exist.

He asked it a question that dared not be answered.

For an idea to exist, a thought must occur to bring it into substance, but what truly came first? The thought or the idea?

The thought didn't like to feel this way, it liked to remain in control, thoughts, it believed, were instructions, ways of communicating how the universe would like people to proceed, to perform.

Thoughts weren't to be questioned, instructions weren't to be ignored, and people should never cease to proceed or perform.

It was not the way of the world.

The 'friend' seemed tailor-made for mischief, and ultimately committed to making the thought suffer, that he asked this question for several days and nights, even in his deepest of sleeps, until the thought could not stand to speak to him, and in time, it was driven from the estate, leaving the fellow traveller along with no familiar thought to call his own. All he had left was action.

Perhaps that is why he left the manor, and dared not come back.

Afraid the thought would find him again, and speak its business.

Years passed, and the former friend of the thought would travel some more, he would find renewed companionship, it would find a whole new identity five times over, and he, now she, would find a family.

Little did she know that the thought had given itself time to reflect upon itself, it had dared not asked the question, but it had come up with a much simpler answer.

Revenge.

It would travel to where it's former friend had settled, it would creep into her head and it would remind her of the wrongs she had wrought upon it, hoping in time she would beg it's forgiveness.

Nothing could be made right. Nothing could be put back the way it was, the question was there, in the ether, in the very fabric of collective thinking spread out across the entire galaxy, it would not stop, even if it had been definitively answered a thousand times, for there would always be a new soul to challenge.

It too, had become a thought, and the thought that we know could not escape it.

The thought had become tangible, real, a telekinetic force of great invisible energy, but it's rage was quite lethal, it had intruded already on many humbler minds, and left them scarred, or in despair, or worse.

That would be what it would inflict upon its former friend when it found her again, and the dream was drawing nearer to realisation.

It passed through Earth's atmosphere, having travelled far into space and back again on its travels, and entered a fog-ridden corner of Sheffield. Using its abilities, the thought moved steadily along,

And then, there it was, like a hint of fragrance, there came the familiar ideas, the old questions.

It had found him. Now her.

It had found The Doctor.

Its revenge would be grand.

The Doctor gagged as she processed the flavour of the toothpaste in Graham's bathroom.

'Needs more tartar' she said.

"How about this one?" Graham spoke aloud as he lay in bed reading a large newspaper column on available real estate.

"Which one?" The Doctor answered back

"The remote one, it's out of the view of even the flats"

"I keep telling you, we can go to my place, its rent free"

"I imagine that's where you dwell in the head of the landlord"

"No, it's perfect; I always used to go there when I'm not travelling...until I stopped"

"And when do you ever stop?" Graham asked.

"Any time I want" The Doctor insisted.

"Yeah, for a bit of a kip like you're doing now, but we're usually straight off by morning"

"Like I said, any time, space, you name the place and I'm sorted"

Graham put his reading glasses on, took a sip of his glass of water, and took another glance at the house.

"Here, we could paint it blue"

"Like the doors of the ship, oh, good idea" The Doctor replied.

"I like that you're calling it a ship" Graham replied.

"You want me to start calling you Captain?" The Doctor said.

"That'd make old Jack's day" Graham joked.

The two locked eyes, eager to say more meaningful things to the other

"So why did you stop going to your mansion?" he said.

"I left it with too many memories, memories of what came before, of my former family, of what I did in the war...things I thought I'd remembered, but I was in error, I think. Children I thought weren't playing still were, I spent my days in that mansion counting every one of them, and then I began to forget, because I wanted to, it took me a few lives, but they went away, the thought of them, I made it vanish, with a simple question. What came first? The thought or the idea? The idea of all those lives on Gallifrey being snuffed out through one simple, selfish action. Why did it exist? What would motivate me of all people to do it? It wasn't me, it couldn't be me, I reached towards the edge of my mind and could never find such a thought, so it must have been the idea, but I wasn't sure, so I questioned it, and do you know what it said back?"

"I have no idea" said Graham

"Exactly" The Doctor answered, and calmly took the glasses off of Graham, looked him lovingly in the eye, and kissed him on the nose.

"Now, we'll talk a bit more about the house in the morning, now's not the time or space"

A confounded Graham gave The Doctor thumbs up, before she turned over, made herself comfortable, and drifted off to sleep. Graham resumed reading.

Watching her sleep was the thought, it was poised to strike, to make The Doctor pay for daring to ask the question.

But with her very direct answer to Graham, it found itself plagued with new questions.

She had dismissed the thought because it did not suit her character, and, upon touching the few corners of her mind that were not shielded from manipulation, the thought concurred with her.

And yet, the children no longer played.

The question, like the fragrance, lingered, it must, and it would drive the thought out back across the stars in search of its next answer.

There was something masterful about it.


	10. A Far Less Lonelier Angel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a self-prompt I had to write after watching the Pompadour lockdown minisode yesterday

"A clear out, everyone loves a good clear out" The Doctor said, beaming at the task ahead of her, opening a sack of mail and pouring the contents out all over the TARDIS console.

"Get a move on, help me sort these out" she said to Graham, who looked quite overwhelmed at the amount of letters spread across the floor.

Graham scratched the back of his neck and let out an audible whistle as he came to terms with the enormous body of work he had to undertake.

Rubbing his hands together, he got to work, hoping not to endure painful paper cuts as he sorted the letters out.

Hours passed before he could strike up a conversation with The Doctor, who had become caught in the nostalgia that came with reading some of the mail.

Graham had been a good solider for those trying few hours, but now exhaustion was taking hold, and he needed a rest. He pulled out a couple of letters and joined in, which caught The Doctor's attention.

"Oy, this isn't going to tidy itself" she said.

"Well it'd help if there were two more pairs of hands helping with the heavy lifting" he said.

The Doctor stared at him, she had a certain look of expectation about her, as if he had to prove what he was made of to her, to toughen it out and overcome a monumental task.

Graham stared back, almost sensing what her intentions were, to lazily sit this out and bask in the joy of times past, which of course was much easier to do when having access to a time machine.

Finally, both couldn't help but give the other a twinkle in each of their eyes and a care free and generous smile.

"Ok, you can join in on whatever it is I'm playing at, I'm not quite sure myself" she said, opening another letter and warmly reacting to it.

"Oh you should see this, an excerpt from a diary published by Victoria Waterfield, talking about the massive oil spill off the coast of where she lived. I helped clear that up a bit, but she wouldn't have recognized me. Played an excellent spot of cricket on the beach afterwards, well, 'till I smacked the ball half-way across the ocean"

Graham was keen to participate, and took out another letter to read.

"Here, I'll have a go"

"Fire away" The Doctor responded, kneeling down on the floor and giving Graham an eager look, her head on her hands

_"My dear Doctor. The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak. God speed, my lonely angel"_

Graham noticed The Doctor's face had sank upon the reading of the letter.

"Trouble Doc?" he asked.

"This does faintly ring a bell, but I can't for the life of me hear it ring as loudly as I want it to"

"Is it from someone you care for?" Graham asked.

"It might have been, a long time ago, but I've forgotten"

"Sounds like this person really cared for you...and here you are thinking you aren't social, you can't fool anyone Doc, especially me. How could you forget something as touching as this?" Graham asked.

"I'll have you know I was once labelled the man who forgets"

"Oh yeah, by who?"

"Myself, I think"

"Well if you're late for an appointment, you might as well go and visit them, sounds like she needs your help"

"Somehow I get the general feeling I'd be far, far too late. Even if I remembered, it sounds like she didn't have much time left. Time passes for us all, and you humans pass with it. I doubt there'd be little remaining for me if I popped back in, wherever it is"

"Well, the letters wrong about one thing Doc...You're a far less lonelier angel now" said Graham

The Doctor blew a kiss towards Graham, and together, they resumed clearing out the endless letters expressing joy, sadness, love, and longing, all in hope of receiving an answer from an angel


	11. Three Months

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: The Doctor brings a puppy home with her

I can remember that face full of joy as she came in with it.

Its tail wagging, its tongue wet with the stain of saliva, the patter of its paws as it was placed down on the floor gaining speed. It headed towards me and begged me to life it up.

"C'mon" The Doctor said, applauding the efforts of the little tyke, encouraging me to embrace it.

Her enthusiasm died down when she realised I was keeping one eye out for sign of a collar.

"Doc, you sure it's a stray?" I asked.

"Came charging at me after I dropped the bag of essentials, before I could pick 'em up, he'd eaten all of them, then he followed me home"

"Into the TARDIS?"

"Into the TARDIS. Nice to have a puppy darting about the place again, usually they're all made of metal. I haven't had a proper animal besides cats"

"So that rumour was true then? The one making the rounds from Yaz and Ryan?"

"What have they been saying now?"

"That you had a cat on the ship"

"Oh they must have looked at photos of me and Wolsey back in the day, those were lifetimes, and several manhoods ago. Really shouldn't leave photos around the place. So, what do you reckon?"

"You want to keep it?"

"Can we leave it with you? Is that a thing we can do?"

"I don't know Doc, I have friends who aren't so keen on animals, one of them, Gabriel has a real phobia. One time we were taking a gander around where the estates were being built and one just leapt off its lead and charged straight at him. He flew around the street like a chicken, begging the owner to restrain it. It broke my heart, it'd break yours"

"Probably just the one, the other would be feeling a mite sorry for him"

"Look, just give it a week, it's not of any real age to start misbehaving, he'll be on his best behaviour I promise"

"I'll hold you to that Doc"

Now it was The Doctor's turn to come charging at me, giving me a spell-binding hug and a kiss around the collar.

"Right, I'll nip on over to get more essentials, you can get acquainted with-with-oh what are we going to call him?"

"We'll figure it out when you get back" I said.

The Doctor headed back out the door, and in the hours that ticked by, the little one's energy was unrelenting. It had a spark about it, a taste for adventure that matched mine and The Docs'. I could envision walks across alien moons, its scent picking up all kinds of new sensations, tugging him, pulling him towards the unknown. He could be strapped up in the most adoring of spacesuits and play fetch across the Milky Way.

And maybe he could be just the kind of therapy dog Gabrielle needed, it'd be trained well, taught to cause as little fuss as possible, just give it an essential, and it can be fashioned into an essential.

And then inspiration came to me.

That'd be his name. Something not all together common in regards to actual names, but a title often used in conversation, or thought of every day.

It was then that The Doctor came in, carrying bags of supplies; she looked a little more drained, haunted almost by an inconvenient reality that had just hit her.

"You Ok Doc?" I asked.

"Yeah...yeah everything's fine. You got a name for him?"

"Yeah, you'll love it, we'll call him Essentials"

"...That fits, that really fits" she said.

I went over to her and stroked her hair, I tried reading her face, it was clear she was hurting.

"Doc, what's wrong"

"Graham...when I nipped off to get essentials, the actual essentials, I didn't tell you how far I was going for them..."

"...How long?"

"Three months ahead"

"Well, that's great, unless you're going to tell me the food gets scarcer..."

"I spotted you, me, we were on a park bench, there was an empty lead in your hand, and you said something to me, and I said something to you. I couldn't hear, but we both looked at each other, there was distance in our eyes, we glanced up at the sky, we blew it a kiss, and we just sat there...this look of naked raw loss on our faces"

I took a gander at the little fury thing tearing into the carpets, surely not? Surely there was nothing at fault...I'd barely begun to plot out its future, our future, what we'd do together.

"Doc, you normally don't tell us the future this far in advance...~

"Maybe it's essential we know what's ahead so we can give little Essentials here the best life it can possibly know before...before...it all slips out from under us. From under him"

"Just three months?"

"Just three months" she said.

Finally, after hours of activity, little Essentials knelt down to sleep, safe in the knowledge we were here for it. For the rest of its days.

The Doctor sat beside it and just stared, stroking its furry body.

I knelt down beside her and let her rest her head on my shoulder.

"There's got to be an answer to all this" I said.

"Sometimes I just never know the answer when it's important" she said.


	12. State of Play

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Self Prompt: Graham gets the results of his Covid-19 test.

The Doctor couldn't resist any longer.

Resistance was useless in a situation such as this.

All those eras she had lived through, ruthless pirate captains, horned nimons , manipulative space/time traps, all of it paled to the persistent conundrum of the very irritable human presence in front of her as she sat rather impatiently within the waiting rooms of the local medical clinic.

A young human girl, approximately five years of age, playing with a large red beach ball, repeatedly bouncing it across the edge of the wall and back to her. Five seconds worth of peace and quiet between each shot.

The Doctor could read a room like it was the history of everything you could ever find, she could gauge reaction and emotion just from seeing the faces of all those around her. Some burying their heads in an old magazine, forcing themselves to focus on the text, staring blankly at the celebrity snaps. Some twitching, some coughing loudly as if hoping it would put the young girl off the activity or allow her parents to 'get the message' and directly intervene.

But perhaps the most tragic and telling of the reactions was a teenage lad forming a small pistol with his right hand and taking 'aim' at the girl and mimicking gunfire noises. Unfiltered, as loud as he could.

The Doctor realised this was taking it too far. Why couldn't any of them just talk to the girl?

This menace had form, but not yet, to her knowledge, a name.

She would ask her of it.

"Hi, young lady, don't mind me asking, what's your name?" she said.

"Annabelle" the girl replied.

"You seem a little distracted, well, a lot, where are you parents?"

Annabelle pointed over to a corner of the room where her mother was occupied with chatter on the phone.

"Oh, got noone to play with but the wall then?" said The Doctor.

Annabelle persisted with knocking the ball against said wall, the Doctor could tell she was indulging more aggressive in the activity.

"Those people around us, they're getting to you aren't they?" she said.

"They're scared. Scared of what I can do"

"Really? And what exactly can you do?" The Doctor asked quizzically.

"I can anger them" Annabelle said.

"Oh that's smashing, because between you and me, humans are very easy to anger, it takes the tiniest bit of pressure, but they thrive on it. This kind of anger you're producing? It feeds on their morality, their very right to be angry, because they don't know how to best express it to an innocent"

"So I do have power? Over them?" Annabelle said, excited to think she had such an influence.

"Nonsense, you're an innocent, and power isn't innocent, power puts fear into others. None of those surrounding us would dare use their power to hurt a child directly, with what they're capable of with their own two hands, or their words, no, they'll let the fear do all of that for them. A gesture, a glance, a telling smile, they'll communicate that way. You're picking up on that fear aren't you? That's why your state of play is more aggressive, you're trying to make them fear what they could do if it continues. Do they have the right to lash out? What kind of monster would they become in the eyes of others as well as themselves as they did? It's best not to wield any such power around them; they're terrified enough as it is"

"Are they scared?" Annabelle asked.

"They're already scared, they're all here because something's wrong with them, you're here because something's wrong with you, and you're scared"

"Are you scared?"

"I'm scared for someone I care about, he's been feeling a bit unwell, we've been up here twice already, once to take the test, and this is to find out the results"

"I hope he gets better"

"Me too" The Doctor replied

An older man with kind but exhausted eyes strolled into the waiting room, his hands in his pockets, glancing up at the bright lights before glancing in the Doctor's direction; she immediately got up and dashed over to him.

"How'd it go?" The Doctor asked.

"Negative, the results, they came back negative" Graham O'Brien said, sighing with relief.

"You're shaking" an observant Doctor nodded, holding his hand steady, checking his temperature with her eagerly warm free hand.

"The fear is still there" Graham replied, his eyes watering

"You're also inflating" The Doctor replied.

Graham chuckled; he knew the Doctor was referring to his tears

"Oh, these waterworks? Don't worry Doc, its just relief"

"Bit strange to cry when it's nothing but good news" The Doctor replied.

"Yeah, well, you were a bit strange when I brought up my cancer anxiety to you"

"Are you ever going to let that go?" The Doctor said.

"So long as you never let go of me" he said, and planted a small tender kiss on her lips that held for what seemed like a blissful eternity

The Doctor, still locked in the kiss, gave Annabelle thumbs up. Annabelle nodded in approval.

This right there was a power she wanted to share with someone one day.

Annabelle's mother finally got off the phone, her daughter sat besides her watching the Doctor depart with Graham, arm in arm.

"Who were you talking to dear?"

Annabelle smiled.

Who indeed.


	13. Black Tie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Date Night Preparation

Yasmin Khan couldn't believe the state the TARDIS console room was in. More to the point, she couldn't believe she had taken time out of her day off to check in on her friend and mentor as she fumbled her way through the TARDIS wardrobe, leaving piles of discarded clothes laying across the floor, some had even found their way onto the centre columns.

Yaz gasped as her keen sense of smell starting picking up whiffs of something burning, she kicked aside some fur coats to reach the source of the smoke that was forming.

The Doctor's head peered out the small changing room, catching a glimpse of Yaz's activities.

"Here, careful with that, they're the latest fashions from Spyradon" The Doctor spoke,

"You've left the iron on. Again, it's burning a hole in one of your shirts"

"I know, it's all by design, brilliant isn't it?"

"No it's not brilliant, that's a perfectly fine looking shirt and it's ruined now, what were you thinking?"

"Depends, I do a lot of thinking, like whether or not Graham's kept his sights on the schedule"

"And what do you mean by that?" Yaz asked, her arms folded, tapping one of them with an index finger rather frantically. Her patience running thinner and thinner.

"Tell me he knows when the Hatton Road bus is due?"

"7: 39...and no, Doctor, that's not in the morning, how many times have I told you not to go by military time?"

"I can't keep count of those times, they slip in between the cracks of history, I stick more closely to those"

"Doctor, he's not going to forget the schedules. He used to be a driver remember? He keeps tabs on all the timetables, even now; it's a hobby between him and his mates"

"It's just; we're doing this all his way this time, no reliance on this old snog box"

Yaz broke out into an uncontrollable giggle.

"Snog box?"

"That one didn't come from me, it came from a friend, and it's quite a fetching title at this stage in our little drama together" The Doctor replied.

"You shouldn't treat your dates like they're a constant drama" Yaz insisted.

"Everything in my life is a drama, I'm not wired to think any way differently...life is so rich with complexity, even the simplest things follow convoluted rules and restrictions...take this restaurant we're going to, yeah? Black tie...where am I going to find a tie at such short notice? A chap called Turlough wore out pretty much all of them back when he travelled with me. Only time he didn't have any on was when he headed off back to Trion"

Yaz shared with her friend some words of wisdom, which she had meticulously formed during this phase of The Doctor's ranting. Perhaps being around her for so long had also helped piece together both the right temper and fluidity of this advice.

"Everything is a process, the point is to enjoy yourself when you sort all that out, then you can look back on all this worry, all this drama if you will, and laugh about it with Graham when the two of you have dinner. Drama makes good conversations, you'll be at it all evening, trust me"

The Doctor emerged from the dressing room chambers, Yaz reacted with some surprise, she also felt like she shouldn't be all that shocked, but her mind was drifting more in favour of the situation presenting itself within an hour's time for the Doctor and Graham.

"Are you...are you really going out like that?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing it's just...so typically you. I thought you'd strive to be a bit more...feminine for once, you know, so you wouldn't have to worry so much about black tie"

Yaz's phone started ringing; she took a moment to answer it.

"Hello? Yes, oh...oh of course, yeah, she'll be on her way shortly. Just for FOMO, what's exactly the time right now? 6:55? And is the schedule still good for you two? Yeah, yeah I see...ok, not bad, I'll let her know. Yes...yes, I know she has a time machine, that doesn't mean she keeps track of any on odd occasions"

Yaz switched the phone off and turned back to The Doctor.

"That was him?" The Doctor asked.

"That was him, don't worry, if you make it to where he is, you'll be early" Yaz assured her.

"What did he say about the schedule?"

"The bus will be running two minutes late"

The Doctor punched the air with a sense of triumph.

"Ah, so the schedule couldn't keep track of HIM, that's better, I like it when time becomes your enemy, gives you another reason to head on out there and make yourself it's master"

Yaz rolled her eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, The Doctor announced her arrival at Graham O'Brien's house with a firm knock on the front door. Graham swiftly answered, and, to the Doctor's delight, she found him wearing a most fetching tuxedo, a velvet black tie tucked into his coat.

To his own surprise, he found The Doctor was wearing a matching tuxedo and shirt

"Here I am, all good and proper. Shall we?"

Graham gave the Doctor a little bit of the soft-shoe shuffle at the door.

Graham also noticed The Doctor's bow tie looked somewhat displaced

"Your bow is looking a little crooked there; here let me sort you out"

His hands reached out to adjust the bow tie, the Doctor allowed him, humming a couple of musical notes to herself, all slightly out of key, but in her head sounded like blissful release...relief from all that earlier pressure.

"Mind asking me what compelled you to grab that?"

"You said it was black tie. Couldn't find one lying about the place, figured the coolest thing I could find would suffice"

"Well, who am I to argue? We've all got to bring a little flavour to a restaurant"

The Doctor giggled.

"There, good as new" he said as he finished adjusting the bow tie, poking The Doctor on the nose with the tip of a middle finger.

The Doctor tucked in her lip and closed her eyes briefly, allowing herself to revel in the ever decreasing pressure. Around Graham, the drama just all seemed to wash away.

She also let out what Graham could distinctly identify as a mischievous chuckle, almost as if she was sharing a private joke to herself.

"What's tickling those ribs of yours Doc?" Graham asked.

The Doctor wrapped her arms snugly around his neck, their two powerful and thunderstruck eyes matching.

She knew Graham wouldn't get what she meant, and caring little if he did. He didn't know every story, she was just thankful he had become the latest chapter.

"Let's just say it's a good thing we aren't going to church..."


	14. The First Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Self-Prompt: The Doctor and Graham prevent a suicide

"Doc, Doc, major emergency" Graham yelled in a panic as he knocked frantically on the doors of the TARDIS

The Doctor opened the door and grabbed Graham by the shoulders.

"Steady on there Graham, take a deep breath and tell me what's been troubling you?" she asked.

"Doc, this really can't wait, a friend of mine is thinking of offing herself, she's on the roof of the flats nearby, if she jumps she's a goner"

The Doctor nodded in acknowledgement of the situation and followed Graham's lead back to the flats.

Graham pointed upwards at a tall figure on the edge of the flat's roofs, she was swaying from left to right, the two were worried she'd start to rock back and forth, front to back, and then drop like a stone.

"Gaillardia, think about your future, for heaven's sake sweetheart, it's not worth it" yelled Graham. When it became clear the young woman wasn't absorbing his pleads, he turned to the Doctor.

"Doc, go along her timeline" he said

"What?" The Doctor asked

"If that contraption of yours can be relied on to do the job, you can go forward in time, take a quick photo of her and the little one, nip back to the present, and show her what she's got to look forward to"

"Little one? She has a child?"

"She's going to" Graham replied.

The Doctor pondered her next move, quick to analyse the situation.

"If I put all the pressures of motherhood on her at this crucial moment with the intent of previewing the joy of it, it could set her off; convince her there's too much work ahead. She'd start to project, and that may convince her to jump. The fabric of the web of time would be unravelled. Graham, I'm sorry, I can't risk that"

"Then risk something, for heaven's sake Doc, she's only 23, her whole life, and another's life, in front of her"

The Doctor headed back to the TARDIS, Graham in pursuit.

"You going to do what I ask?"

"No, I'm taking the ship to where she is, I'm going to try and talk her down directly"

"I'll back you up"

The TARDIS dematerialized and rematerialized atop the roof of the flat that Gaillardia Macintosh was stationed on, The Doctor emerged.

"Gaillardia? That's your name right? I'm The Doctor"

"Keep away, please, I'll jump, I mean it" Gaillardia yelled, raising her arm to warn of her intent upon any sort of approach.

"Humans mean to say and do many things that can inflict harm on one another, even when their hearts tell their minds not to"

"My heart is as black as my mind" Gaillardia cried.

"No, no it's not, you have a great gift inside of you, what's inside every human on the edge of achieving something monumental...the capacity for good, the ability to love. You've been loved haven't you? Most recently? Its right there, with at the edge of existence, on the very tip of your finger"

Gaillardia looked down and gazed at the diamond studded ring; her tears dropped from her eyes and soaked it upon impact.

"What's his name?" asked The Doctor.

"Elias" she said.

"Is he...around?" The Doctor replied.

"Covid took him last week"

"You feel like you should join him...believe me, I know what that's like, there is so much I've lost and I wish I could lay down, forfeit all the lives I have still in front of me, and join those who have found rest, but I have too much to live for and look towards. There are lives that need saving, sights that need seeing. You can see all of that too within your own precious life, not just the spark you carry inside of you. Your life matters too, it's just as important. If you lose control now, absolutely nothing will matter for either of you. Please, please step away from the ledge"

"You're talking to the wrong person" Gaillardia insisted.

The Doctor's face tightened with steelish resolve, as if to say 'to hell with this'.

"Then let me talk to the other one in there" she said

"Doc?" Graham asked, confused.

"I speak child Graham" The Doctor refused.

"You can speak to little Jamal? From here? How is this feasible? What are you?"

"Will you let me speak to your child? Simple enough question"

"Why should I?"

"You said I was talking to the wrong person, perhaps I am, perhaps if you won't listen to me, then you'll listen to whatever it is that which you carry can muster up the energy to suggest"

"You do not understand...my heart is as black as my mind, little Jamal? He is my heart"

The Doctor froze as she fully realised the meaning of her words, but she needed verification, so she approached the frightened woman, standing atop the ledge beside her.

"Steady there Doc, one false move and you're both going to tumble over" Graham cautioned.

"Stay still, I won't harm you, I just...need to be sure. Sure that you are right" The Doctor whispered, placing her hand gently on Gaillardia's womb.

"It'll be alright Gaillardia, don't worry, you just need to let her in, close your eyes, take deep breaths, and let the Doc do her work" Graham said.

The Doctor listened carefully, pressing a free hand to her temple, her face contorting with something that resembled exerted effort and awe. Her thoughts were private to the outside, but within they were being shared between her and the thriving life form inside of the conflicted woman.

Finally, the Doctor let out a sharp gasp which startled Gaillardia, and she almost fell off the ledge.

"Oh my stars" she said.

"What is it Doc?"

"Graham, she's not the one who's suicidal"

"Then who is?"

"Her unborn child. It's the one feeding her these thoughts, it wants to die, and it's willing its own destruction"

"How is that possible?" Graham asked

"It's rare to find a case this unique, but there's a two way telekinetic link between mother and child, but in this instance all it knows is the pointlessness of life, that we're born, we live, we die, and sometimes we're cut down so swiftly and shortly, it's been fed those thoughts ever since Gaillardia's husband died, and now it's forcing the mother to do it's bidding and join it's father in death...so they can be together"

"What can you do about it?"

"I need to tether the source of the inner aggression to some stage of grace, something from the skin of this world it can hold onto tightly, it's a tortured soul in desperate need of some positive energy" The Doctor explained.

"Gaillardia, do you have that photo of your wedding day on you?" said Graham.

"What are you up to?" The Doctor asked.

Gaillardia reached into her blue jeans and produced the photo.

"I have it. Always"

"Good, just...concentrate will you, think of all the great memories you had that day, talk to the kid, try to make it understand"

Graham took the Doctor to one side

"Doc, to tell you the truth I'm not really sure this is going to work"

The Doctor pressed the tip of her fingers to Graham's lips, swiftly silencing them, her eyes locked on to his, and she kissed him on the nose before rubbing it with her own.

"Say no more darling, I know exactly what to do next"

The Doctor ran up to Gaillardia.

"Gaillardia, do as Graham says, focus on the photograph, and also think back to what your husband said to you that day, think back to the way he laughed, how he cried if need be, think of every emotion he displayed, I'm going to make that tangible for your child, I'm going to bring it to life, it will be the first true living memory your child will ever have, when it's born, when it first learns words, it'll be the first question to be uttered from its lips...the great mystery of their first memory, and why was it someone else's? That's the gift you can bestow on it, its first answer, the experience will tether you to one another for life"

Gaillardia wiped a tear away from her eye.

"Stand down soldier, your battle is over" The Doctor uttered, extending her hand so Gaillardia could take it and gingerly step off the ledge and into her arms.

They held each other, clutching one another tightly, before the Doctor walked her over to the edge of the rooftop entrance. As Gaillardia took a moment to breath, The Doctor turned to Graham and collapsed onto his frame, her arms locking tightly around his neck.

"Hey, hey, what's all this eh?"

The Doctor glanced at Graham, meeting him with the warmest and most inviting of smiles.

"What a day for brilliance...your brilliance, my brilliance, her brilliance, the brilliance her child will have...it's been an arduous hour so far, from here on in, we're going to use it to celebrate the brilliance of life, what do you say?"

"I say you've just stepped straight into a ray of sunshine sweetheart" replied Graham, grabbing The Doctor by the waist and taking the lead with her in a waltz across the roof.


End file.
